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SANDY FITZGERALD

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From doing alot of work Imean Ihave worked for the sector now for over 40 years. And also Itravelled alot
with my own work throughout Europe. And one of the big problems Icome up against all the time is the
confusion between art and culture and the definition of art and culture. And this cuts across everything.
If people do not understand the difference between the art and culture what separates them then you are
always beginning from the wrong place. Ithink alot ofpeople confuse the two when they talk about art and
culture, culture and art it is the same thing for them. But in fact culture is really about developing society and
it is about the quality of life, it is about every aspect of human behaviour. Culture is really the space that we
create within the environment as human beings and that is the difference between us and nature. Nature
actually develops in its own freedom. We are part of nature then as asub-section we are creating this culture,
this cultural development. That is totally human made.
Cities of Culture in Europe for instance Ithink there is abig misunderstanding in alot of those projects
because they are all about investing in art. But that does not necessarily mean we are investing in the culture
of the city. So for many years in many different situations Ihave discussed these questions with lots of other
people. People have had debates. There have been ongoing debates for forty years much more about what
culture is.
Agood few years ago in the nineties inDublin there was a research project done by Trinity College and it was
about different capitals in Europe and how young people behaved. And it was measured on things like antisocial behaviour, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, all of these things. And in Ireland we were very surprised to find
that actually Dublin was down at the bottom of this survey and Amsterdam was at atop. So the young people
in Amsterdam really were very engaged with their culture and saw that there is alot for them regard to their
future.
And it suddenly clicked with me that actually the very simple definition of culture is the culture is about
having afuture. And if you can see your future and if you have aplace to go in the future then your life
becomes meaningful and then you have something to participate in and you have something to invest in.
If you see no future then why would you participate. And also not only that, you probably react negatively. And
lots of young people in all the cities in Europe are in the situation where they cannot see afuture for
themselves. So they are reacting in ways that are very damaging to themselves, to their communities, to their
cities, to their societies. And that is why we should be investing in the culture.
Investing in art will not solve that problem and will not change anything. So if you want to change culture you
have to invest in culture as is defined as our behaviour as human beings. And of course art can actually make a
big difference in that. And art should be theleader in that but it is not actually. And the reason is not that alot
of artists do not understand this either, alot of cultural organizations, art organizations do not understand this
question.
If you go to invest in art then you have to really understand the difference between the art and culture. And if
you then decide to invest in art, that is fine. But the problem Isee all the time is that people do not know what

they are talking about. They have not defined what they mean by arts and culture. And they therefore probably
are investing in thewrong thing.
Culture is really everything that human beings create in our world, in our physical space. And that is
everything. Imean everything, language, agriculture food, buildings, everything. Every single thing that we
create is aculture.
Art is one of the aspects of culture. It is avery defined creative approach to making objects or making
concepts. It is defined as aphysical thing that we create be it apainting or amovie or whatever. So it is almost
like creating. It is acraft or a skill by which we create an object. And that object can be conceptual as well as
physical. But is very definite. It is very defined activity and it is avery defined product that you have in art.
Whereas the culture is everything, what we are surrounded by.

Sandy Fitzgerald Europe Definition Art and culture Difference Society Environment Nature
Cultural development Misunderstanding Dublin Anti-social behaviour Drug abuse Alcohol abuse
Community Future Artists

Trial & Error

Creative Industries sterilise creativity
Urban vs Rural phenomenon
Autonomy vs Institutionalisation
Europe vs World
Value of culture in the West
Pressure of gentrification
Measuring not only economic impact
Role of Creative Industries in Europe
Need for inter-sector cooperation
Empty words?
What is the difference between arts and culture?
History of cultural industry
Unfair distribution of cultural funding
Downside of creativity
At the end of neoliberalism
Difference between art and the product

What is Engine Room Europe?

What is the difference between arts and culture?
History of cultural industry
Unfair distribution of cultural funding

ECOC or Marketing Cities in Europe?

Story of Fatima Mansions
At the end of neoliberalism

SANDY FITZGERALD
Ambassador of Trans Europe Halles in Dublin, Ireland
Full biography